Method of constructing tunnels.



Patented'Nov. Il, 1902. C. SOGYSMETH.

METHOD 0F CONSTRUCTING TUNNELS.

(Application flied Feb. 4, 1902.)

W/TNESSES:

(NQ Model.)

Urnrnn Sterns Pa'rnNT yUrricn..

CHARLES SOOYSMlTH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

iVlTl-BOD OF CONSTRUCTHNG TUNNELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 713,520, dated November 11, 1902.

Application filed February 4,1902. Serial No. 92,575. (No modela To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES SooYsMrrH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New' York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of and Means for Constructing Tunnels or other Subterranean or Submarine Structures, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to the process of constructing tunnels, shafts, or other excavations, and especially to tunnels or excavations in soft or yielding or water-bearing materials.

The objects of my invention are to provide a practical method of excavation and construction which shall be at once economical, easy, safe, stable, and durable. These objects l attain by the use of the process and devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and described in the following specification, and claimed specifically hereinafter.

In the drawings like letters of reference refer to like parts throughout the respective views.

Figure l is a longitudinal sectional view showing the pile foundation and the operation of advancing a shield at the heading, through the soft material, and building up the completed tunnel structure While the Work progresses. Fig. 2 is an end sectional elevation of the same looking through the tunnel.

Referring to the gures, l is the surrounding material; 2, the piles driven therein; 3, the main structure of the tunnel as completed; 4, the shield; 5, the removable lower portion of the same, shown in dotted lines. This may be made removable in order to facilitate the laying the bottom portion of the completed tunnel upon the heads of the piles and for other purposes, or it may be omitted altogether. 6 represents the hydraulic or other jacks.

Heretofore in constructing tunnels in soft or Waterbearing material, and especially those constructed under the bed of a river or other body of Water, While the shield has been used with some success the absence of a firm foundation has been a drawback to their economical and safe construction and has left them open to the objection of the possibility of dislocation, settling, distortion, and consequent leakage, because it has not been practicable heretofore to so construct them upon a continuous foundation as that formed by the previous emplacement of piles, one reason for this being that there has been great difficultyheretoforein driving orplacing piles in the proper locations and with the necessary accurate adjustment as to the level of their tops or heads, and it has not been practicable to force the shield through a mass of piles lying in its path, if the latter were so placed. By my invention of the method of and means for sinking piles, application serially numbered 90,634, filed January 2l, 1902, I have been enabled to overcome this difiiculty and am now enabled to place my piles very accurately at the desired depth and location, and by this invention I am enabled to secure at a minimum of expense of time, money, and labor a stable structure which shall not be liable to distortion, leakage, and the other difficulties heretofore existing.

The steps of myprocess are as follows: Ipre ferably firstI provide or place in the proposed site of the tunnel a sufficient number of piles carefully adjusted so that their heads shall be substantially on a level with the bottom of the proposed structure when completed. l then proceed, by means well known and therefore not specifically claimed herein, to advance a tunnel, preferably using a shield, which may be forced through the soft material bymeans of hydraulic or other jacks and permitting the excavation of the soft material, While preventing the danger of its inrush. This shield is advanced directly over the heads of the piles and as close to them as is desired, having in mind the emplacement of the metal shell, concrete, masonry, or other substance of the bottom of the completed tunnel upon the heads of the piles. This may be done by the use of a shield provided with a bottom port-ion adapted to be removed, so that this` bottom portion of the tunnel may be constructed directly upon the heads of the piles, and thus kept up With the advancing of the shield. lt is understood, of course, that this removable portion may be replaced during the operation of advancing the shield and removed at successive intervals for the purpose of constructing the bottom of the tunnel.

IOS

I may in some cases construct a shield without any bottom portions, thus building the base of the tunnel directly upon the piles While the shield is being advanced.

It Will be understood that I do not confine myself to an operation performed in any special substance or in any particular direction, as the horizontal, or to the use of any special material for the foundations, as to Wood, or to a structure constructed under water, nor to any particular form or kind of shield; nor do Iclaim here the tun nel itself as constructed by this method, as that forms the subjectmatter of the application for a patent .for the improvement in tunnels led by me March 3, 1902, serially numbered 96,359; but

vWhat I do claim, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is-

l. The method of constructing a tunnel, Which consists in, first, driving a series of piles to form a foundation; second, advancing a shield over the same; third, constructing the tunnel upon the foundation, substantially as described.

2. The method of constructing a tunnel which consists in,first,drivingaseries of piles; second, excavating the material by means of a shield; third, constructing a tunnel upon the piles, substantially as described.

3. The method of constructing a tunnel, which consists in, first, placing a series of piles in aline of the proposed structure; second,advancingashield through the surrounding material in close proximity to and over the piles; third, removing the bottom of the shield; fourth, constructing the bottom of the tunnel upon the piles, substantially as described.

4. The method of constructing a tunnel which consists in, first, placing a plurality of piles in the line of the proposed structure, at

such a depth that their heads shall be on substantially the same level as the bottom of the proposed structure; second, advancing a shield through the surrounding material in close proximity to and over the piles; third, constructing the tunnel upon the piles.

5. The method of constructing a subterranean structure which consists in, first, placing a plurality of piles beneath the boundaries of the proposed structure; second, excavating the necessary material over said piles so as to expose the heads of the same; third, constructing the bottom of the structure upon the piles, substantially as described.

6. The method of constructing a tunnel which consists in, first, driving a series of piles on the line of the proposed tunnel; second, excavating the material Within the boundaries of the proposed tunnel; third, constructing a tunnel upon the piles, substantially as described.

7. The method of constructing a tunnel which consists in, rst, preparing a foundation on the line of the proposed tunnel; second, excavating the material Within the boundaries of the proposed tunnel; third, constructing a tunnel upon the foundations, substantially as described.

8. The method of constructing a tunnel which consists in, first, preparing the foundation; second, excavating over the same; third, constructing the tunnel upon the foundation, substantially as described.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 3d day of February, A. D. 1902.

CHARLES SOOYSMITl-I.

Witnesses:

Z. ROSENFIELD, M. T. CoNRoY. 

